Facebook plans on fixing Home so that Android users feel (wait for it) at home

The company is bringing back the Dock and Folders to Home for Android users.

MENLO PARK, CA—It's been a month since Facebook Home launched to the Android masses. Though it's been met with mixed reviews—the app currently holds a two-star rating in the Google Play store—Facebook is still pushing updates, some of which are specifically tailored to those negative comments on the app’s reviews page.

To coincide with the update to the Facebook Home app on Android, Facebook held a whiteboard session at its campus today. Vice President of Mobile Engineering Cory Ondrejka and Director of Product Adam Mosseri addressed burgeoning concerns surrounding the social-centric application, in addition to detailing several new features planned for a future update. "The five star reviewers are pretty outspoken, saying things like, 'We love what cover feed is doing,'" said Ondrejka. "We spent a lot of time diving throughout the one-star ratings…and it really breaks into the categories of [what features are missing]."

Enlarge/ A look at what the next iteration of Facebook Home will look like with Folders and a Dock. (Apologies for the picture quality.)

In a forthcoming update, the application launcher that's a part of Home will include both Docks and Folders. These are two features of the Android operating system that have disappeared according to sad Home users. "We want to ease the transition from your old launcher to the new launcher," added Mosseri. When users swipe up to access their applications, the Dock will show up in addition to the rest of the applications.

The company will also attempt to solve the issue that users "can't really initiate a new chat before starting a chat" in Chat Heads. “Chat Heads needs a way to take the messaging thread to push the conversation forward,” said Mosseri. Facebook Home will eventually feature a Buddy List of sorts in what’s called a Dash Bar, where users will be able to swipe left to create a Chat Head bubble and begin messaging a contact.

Facebook laid out its plans to make its Home application easier for first time users to adopt by implementing what it internally calls “Blues Clues.” This resource will effectively guide the user through the application interface and its features. “We're going to focus you entirely on the bauble," added Mosseri. The tutorial will be similar to the one Facebook currently uses to train its Web users, with pop ups that provide directions and clues for how to use the application. “It's always on us to make it easy for you to get into the experience,” Ondrejka had said later in the talk. The “Blue’s Clues” are a part of what Facebook called the “NUX,” or “new user experience.”

Ondrejka reiterated that advertisements are still on the docket for Facebook Home, but that the company is currently working on getting “the product in a good place.” When the advertisements do arrive, however, they will match the aesthetic of the Cover Feed.

There was also mention of the fact that many Android users have side-loaded the Facebook Home application—Mosseri estimated that more than 10,000 users have done so. “We don’t want folks running hacked versions,” said Ondrejka, citing the fact that Facebook has no control over whether or not the side-loaded application contains malware. One of the reasons for the illicit versions of Facebook Home is that not all devices are supported, but Mosseri and Ondrejka said the company is working on bringing Home to older generations of Android handsets. “One of the most difficult things to work with on Android is device fragmentation," continued Mosseri, adding that varying resolutions, amount of memory, and hardware make it difficult to create a “one size fits all” application. He concluded that they are looking at devices that Facebook Home would work on and factor in market share in deciding which to support.

Ondrejka mentioned that a tablet interface has also been in the works. "We've had [Facebook Home] up and running and testing on tablets, and both the gestural interface and [the fact that tablets are] really photo-centric works really well." And as for whether they’re expanding on iOS: “If there are hooks available, we'll take advantage of them—I don’t think we see a way to do something like Cover Feed just yet."

To date, Facebook Home has been downloaded roughly a million times. The update that goes live today will have a few minor bug fixes, but there is no specific date for when the new Facebook features detailed here will hit. Users will receive monthly Home updates, with the next update scheduled for June 6, followed by July 11.

I'm not a Facebook user, so this doesn't affect me. However, with that being said, it certainly is nice to hear about developers being proactive and taking users' comments into consideration as part of the iterative process. I feel that Facebook is doing themselves proud by taking such a stance. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end ...

Facebook laid out its plans to make its Home application easier for first time users to adopt by implementing what it internally calls “Blues Clues.” This resource will effectively guide the user through the application interface and its features. “We're going to focus you entirely on the bauble," added Mosseri.

I'm a heavy, heavy user of Facebook, but I think that Facebook Home is software that's looking for a reason to exist. I mean, I see why Facebook wants it to exist, but I can't figure out what it does for the user that the normal app doesn't already do. The things it does that go beyond the app are intrusive and aren't things I want from Facebook anyway. When I want to look at my news feed, I look at my news feed. I don't want pictures from my news feed randomly pushed onto my home screen just because random friends have posted things. And Facebook has now forced the idiotic "chatheads" UI onto the iOS app, which I hate. When people send me messages on Facebook, I want to read them when I happen to decide to read them. I don't want an icon to take over part of my screen just because someone sent me a message. It's intrusive and worse than useless. It would make as little sense as some icon taking over part of my screen every time I get an email unless I dismiss it. It puts other people in charge of my screen and I'm forced to react.

As I said, I understand why Facebook would want to be this intrusive. I'm just shocked that anybody — even a heavy user — would want the software.

A two-star rating? That's really, really unfair. I wouldn't use facebook Home for many reasons, but when you see mediocre and downright horrible apps still getting 3-4 stars, I feel like Home is jsut getting bashed because it's cool to hate on facebook these days.

A two-star rating? That's really, really unfair. I wouldn't use facebook Home for many reasons, but when you see mediocre and downright horrible apps still getting 3-4 stars, I feel like Home is jsut getting bashed because it's cool to hate on facebook these days.

All these apps obviously use fake reviews, but that doesn't change the fact that they are listed as higher rated than Home. Really, Home needs fixing, but so does the playstore rating system.

Those are prank apps, people who like pranks are doing to enjoy them. I don't know how the FBH launcher compares to other popular launchers, but getting folders and widgets just now does seem a tad retarded.

Facebook laid out its plans to make its Home application easier for first time users to adopt by implementing what it internally calls “Blues Clues.” This resource will effectively guide the user through the application interface and its features. “We're going to focus you entirely on the bauble," added Mosseri.

I'm not a Facebook user, so this doesn't affect me. However, with that being said, it certainly is nice to hear about developers being proactive and taking users' comments into consideration as part of the iterative process. I feel that Facebook is doing themselves proud by taking such a stance. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end ...

Sure, but how long before people decide to troll Facebook into turning Facebook Home into something functionally identical to the vanilla Android start screen with a Facebook widget?

Clippy: "It looks like you're trying to dial 9-1-1! I can help you with that!" [Okay][Cancel]User panicking starts mashing the screen.Clippy: "I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Let me help by showing you how to use the dial feature on your phone!"User starts punching 9-1-1 but nothing happens.Clippy: "Welcome to the dial feature of your phone! Let me show you some cool features!"User dies as serial killer catches up to them.Clippy: "Did you know you can press your screen where the numbers are to dial? How neat is that?!"

So facebook tossed years of usability out the window by reinventing the home screen, then spends more money reverting back to a normal home screen when people complain about it.

Way to go, facebook! I'm sure your shareholders are proud.

Actually what makes me weep for the human race is the sorry fact that they probably ARE proud: "Look at that Jones, that's a company that does something! That's the kind of pretend-I-have-bootstraps-while-smoking-my-dad's-cigars thinking that makes America great! Buy me more shares! MORE!"

I'm a heavy, heavy user of Facebook, but I think that Facebook Home is software that's looking for a reason to exist. I mean, I see why Facebook wants it to exist, but I can't figure out what it does for the user that the normal app doesn't already do. The things it does that go beyond the app are intrusive and aren't things I want from Facebook anyway. When I want to look at my news feed, I look at my news feed. I don't want pictures from my news feed randomly pushed onto my home screen just because random friends have posted things. And Facebook has now forced the idiotic "chatheads" UI onto the iOS app, which I hate. When people send me messages on Facebook, I want to read them when I happen to decide to read them. I don't want an icon to take over part of my screen just because someone sent me a message. It's intrusive and worse than useless. It would make as little sense as some icon taking over part of my screen every time I get an email unless I dismiss it. It puts other people in charge of my screen and I'm forced to react.

As I said, I understand why Facebook would want to be this intrusive. I'm just shocked that anybody — even a heavy user — would want the software.

If Facebook just hard-coded in a clock, weather and music controls into Home then they'd cover about 90% of the way people use their home screen.

That's sad but true.

Everything makes sense now. That blog post explains why I had to install Apex on my HTC One less than 6 hours after purchase.

Relevant quote from the article:

Quote:

Widgets aren’t widely used – weather, clock and music are the most used and after that, fewer than 10% of customers use any other widgets.

That makes me really sad. I don't use a ton, but I have:

-Clock/weather/stopwatch (courtesy of HD Widgets, 4x2)-Evernote (4x1)-Google search (I bet most people use this, they just don't recognize it as a widget)-Alarm clock (2x1)-Bookmarks (2x2)-Calendar (Business Calendar pro, 4x4)-Music player (4x2)

Played w/a bunch of others but settled on those. Should really play with folders more to fit in more widgets. Sad, but maybe not surprising, that most people don't take advantage of a great feature that makes Android shine (among others, of course).

It's nice that the Facebook Home team understands that you actually need to compete with other launchers, but they've got miles to go before they can compete with Nova or other actually capable launchers. I really tried to give Home a full day of use before going back to Nova, but I didn't make it an hour. Absolutely terrible. I'll try the new one, but I already know it will still fall short.

However, chat heads has been fantastic as an SMS replacement. I don't use it for facebook messaging.

I tried Facebook Home on my Note 2 when it first became available. About fifteen minutes later, I was back to using Nova. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but I couldn't figure out how to find anything with Facebook Home. When I finally magicked the app drawer into existence, the apps were scattered randomly with numerous empty spaces between them. I felt like I was finding all of the glitches in beta software at once.

And that was just because I was curious to know what this Facebook Home thing was. I really don't understand what we're supposed to see in it (I tried, I really did.) If you want to invade my Android experience outside of your app, stick with the uninvited Chat Heads feature your app threw in for fun, Facebook. At least that has a chance of being useful, even if you didn't ask permission first.

I tried Facebook Home on my Note 2 when it first became available. About fifteen minutes later, I was back to using Nova. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but I couldn't figure out how to find anything with Facebook Home. When I finally magicked the app drawer into existence, the apps were scattered randomly with numerous empty spaces between them. I felt like I was finding all of the glitches in beta software at once.

And that was just because I was curious to know what this Facebook Home thing was. I really don't understand what we're supposed to see in it (I tried, I really did.) If you want to invade my Android experience outside of your app, stick with the uninvited Chat Heads feature your app threw in for fun, Facebook. At least that has a chance of being useful, even if you didn't ask permission first.

Edit: Clarity. I had a dumb.

If you install facebook messenger and enable chat heads in the settings, but don't install Home, you can have chat-heads with Nova or whatever launcher you're using. Technically speaking, the chat heads are actually a feature of the Facebook Messenger app, not of the Facebook Home launcher (even though they're advertised as part of the latter).

I tried Facebook Home on my Note 2 when it first became available. About fifteen minutes later, I was back to using Nova. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but I couldn't figure out how to find anything with Facebook Home. When I finally magicked the app drawer into existence, the apps were scattered randomly with numerous empty spaces between them. I felt like I was finding all of the glitches in beta software at once.

And that was just because I was curious to know what this Facebook Home thing was. I really don't understand what we're supposed to see in it (I tried, I really did.) If you want to invade my Android experience outside of your app, stick with the uninvited Chat Heads feature your app threw in for fun, Facebook. At least that has a chance of being useful, even if you didn't ask permission first.

Edit: Clarity. I had a dumb.

If you install facebook messenger and enable chat heads in the settings, but don't install Home, you can have chat-heads with Nova or whatever launcher you're using. Technically speaking, the chat heads are actually a feature of the Facebook Messenger app, not of the Facebook Home launcher (even though they're advertised as part of the latter).

Oops, should have been even clearer (it's Friday, right? I hope it's Friday.) I do have the app installed and I've been mostly pleased with Chat Heads outside the way they were added into my "Android experience" without asking permission first. But it's a small nit pick because it's the most useful part of the app for me, so I can't complain too much.

Apple's App Store is an incredible financial success, and I imagine Google Play is a similarly successful.

Facebook's main source of income is by selling ad space and user information. However, in 2006 Facebook was still a young company, MySpace had more users, and they needed a way to distinguish themselves.

As a poster child for "Web 2.0", Facebook created a then-innovative platform for independent developers to write "apps" under the Facebook umbrella. Over the years developers increasingly exploited the APIs with phishing, click bait, and spam, and so they are featured much less prominently now. One developer "success" story everyone knows is that of Zynga and Farmville.

The difference between playing Words with Friends on the Android app and on Facebook is only a few thousand lines of code. Facebook Home is a way for them to shrink that gap and push their own app platform while taking a piece of the lucrative mobile app market.

Apparently Facebook's brand isn't as strong as the company thinks. And one can't help but feel a little sorry for HTC for getting suckered in.

I hope that prompts HTC to take the deep Facebook integration in Sense and at least make it optional.

I don't think I'm alone in having sort of a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I want to keep it around but at an arm's length. I don't sync my Facebook contacts, and sure as hell I don't want to see all the lame crap people post in my Gallery.

I think people don't want Facebook completely taking over their phone.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.